Haiti: 908 brings comfort into chaos

  • Published
  • By Gene H. Hughes
  • 908th Airlift Wing
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --  Personnel and aircraft of the 908th Airlift Wing have been providing much-needed support to the stricken nation of Haiti. The first C-130 Hercules sortie took off at approximately 4 p.m. Jan. 15, and since that time, eight additional humanitarian flights have taken place.

The 908 wingmen, whose motto is "Ready ... Always," have been flying to various locations where they have been loading Army personnel and equipment before transporting them to Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

""The 908 has been providing a maximum number of volunteers to move as many airlift missions from the United States into Haiti, particularly Port-au-Prince airport, which has been a very busy place obviously," said Wing Commander Col. Brett Clark.

"I have to say, given all that, on behalf of the AFRC and certainly the 908 and the Air Force, we send our condolences to the people of Haiti in the wake of this immense tragedy. I got to say that the 908 has had a tremendous response. Only hours after this tragedy occurred we had an incredible amount of volunteers."

To achieve the goal of providing maximum relief to the stricken nation, the earthquake relief effort is a coordinated response between the Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and the U.S. Southern and Transportation commands, two of the seven unified commands under the Department of Defense's umbrella.

Despite the eagerness of 908 personnel to help victims of the recent massive earthquake - all of whom have volunteered - there have been challenges getting planes into the country, due to the large volume of aircraft attempting to deliver supplies.

"Certainly we have capabilities in excess of what we're sending right now, but one of the limiting factors to what we can put down range is the density and the amount of air traffic trying to get in there."

The wing commander said the entire maintenance and operations groups are involved in the effort to produce mission sorties from the pick-up points to the final destination.

Capt. Dave Kemp, co-pilot of a recent mission to Haiti talked about the mission and what it means to 908 members to be a part of it as his plane, loaded with Army vehicles, went through final flight preparations.

"We're headed down to see what we can do and we're going to give them any extra help that we can," he said. "It's very rewarding (being able to help). We know it's not going to be pretty, but we're looking forward to being able to provide support from the State of Alabama, the Air Force Reserve and Air Mobility Command as a whole."

A few days later, when the crew returned to Maxwell, mission pilot Lt. Col. David Hughes spoke about conditions in the air around Port-au-Prince, once the plane had been handed off from the control center in Miami.

"When we were switched to Port-au-Prince Control, that's when things were noticeably different," he said. "They simply weren't accustomed to the amount of traffic they were receiving. The arrival and approach is exactly the same as what is flown commercially, and the procedures are pretty straight forward.

"Their lack of radar control, however, makes each radio call last about three times longer than when under radar control as they have to ascertain exactly where you are before they can give you your next instruction.

They did quite well considering the sudden workload." Colonel Hughes said the runway and taxiway seemed unaffected by the earthquake and increased traffic.

He added that the ramp area was quite congested due to the volume of aircraft, cargo, and passenger movement, and that there was obvious damage to the terminal and tower.

But the Combat Control Team that ran the airfield made the difference in the operation, and deserves an enormous amount of credit.

"These guys deployed with mere hours notice, set up a "control tower" with fold-out tables and chairs in the infield between the ramp and runway, and facilitated a traffic count of 150-250 fixed-wing flights per 24 hour period. This does not reflect the steady stream of Naval, Marine, Coast Guard, and Army helicopters flying between the ships in the bay and various landing zones."

He said he feels humbled by the efforts being put into the relief operations.

"We have, by far, the easiest job when compared to what the folks on the ground are being asked to do," he said. "The people we worked directly with on the ramp (C-130 maintenance, Aeromedical Evacuation personnel, and Operational Support Squadron members from Hurlburt Field, Fla.) were deployed within hours of notification and are tentatively scheduled to be running 24 hour ops for two weeks to 45 days ... or longer. Most of these people are sleeping in tents within 100-300 feet from the helicopter ops area and aircraft ramp."

Airlifts continue to transport supplies into Haiti. Within the past few days, the wing has also flown injured evacuees out.

"It's done my heart good to see what we can muster in such a short period of time when it comes to this kind of mission," Colonel Clark said. "I couldn't be prouder of the 908 than I am at this moment."